[...]... like IP and the use of genetic resources The new international rules on these, agreed since the early 1990s, will do much to shape the future control of food Yet these often complex and remote negotiations are little known or influenced by the billions of people who will be affected by them This book is a guide to both the negotiations and these new global rules At stake are the livelihoods of 2.5 billion... are written, since they will also help shape the food system, the kind of products it produces and the structures through which it delivers them It is xi The Future Control of Food important to know about the mix of rules because changes in one affect others, and concerns over IP overshadow many Some of the questions that arise are: • • • • Will the rules facilitate and support the worthy but as yet... (International Conference on Nutrition, 1992) We, the Heads of State and Government, or our representatives, gathered at the World Food Summit at the invitation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, reaffirm the right of everyone to have access to safe and nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger We pledge... copyright, trademarks and other forms of IP These privilege some to the detriment or exclusion of others, in theory for the social and economic benefit of all (Chapters 2, 3 and 4); aim to conserve and promote the use of the enormous biodiversity on the planet 6 the benefits arising from exploitation of new technological opportunities Importantly, the inclusion of IP rules in the WTO meant that IP was... funding from the International Development Research Centre in Canada as well as support from their officers, in particular Jean Woo, Brian Davy, Bill Carman and Rob Robertson We would like to thank the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, which, through xvii The Future Control of Food their Visionaries programme, provided support for some of the time of one of the editors, and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign... food and agriculture which were influenced by the concerns of some countries about patents and other forms of intellectual property (IP) • Different interests have been driving the various negotiations on these rules, which have also led to the creation of new global institutions Perhaps the most important of these is the creation, in 1995, of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which came out of the. .. benefits they get Part I of this book provides a brief guide to the contemporary food system, the range of actors and interests in it, the tools they seek to use for control, and the increasingly important role of laws, rules and regulations, not just nationally but globally Next, it outlines the basics of ‘intellectual property’ and then briefly examines the growing importance of rules on patents and other... accordance with the international law and the Charter of the United Nations and that endanger food security (World Food Summit, 1996) In 1970, there were about 960 million hungry people Today there are just over 100 million less* There are, of course, many more people in the world today than at the time of the first World Food Summit in 1974 – called after a major famine in Ethiopia in the early 1970s,... their relations to other rules on biodiversity, an essential requirement for food security It looks through the lens of intellectual property (IP) at the future control of food and farming, because rules on IP are central to struggles over the distribution of wealth and power in the 21st century When, from the 16th century onwards, the colonial powers reorganized the world to suit their economic interests,... agriculture and the long-term food security of us all The IP regime, a new factor in many countries, along with a changing trade regime and new agreements on biodiversity, will help shape the kind of agricultural development in the future It may include most of these 2.5 billion people, or it may exclude them Either way their livelihoods will be affected Moreover, all of us will be affected by the way these . Stannard, former Officer in Charge, Secretariat of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture at the FAO The Future Control of Food A Guide. sustainable food system. Part I begins with a brief overview of the contemporary food system, the basics of IP and its role in the food system. The central core of the